Top-five Indian athletes in the Commonwealth Games 2022 near misses

India had one of its most successful Commonwealth Games campaigns in 2022 at Birmingham, with 22 gold medals, 16 silver medals and 23 bronze totalling 61.

Unfortunately, the sport is not without its faults. Ashish Kumar, a boxer, was not able to add any medals despite his valiant performance.

There were also others who won a medal, but not the gold. M. Sreeshankar, long-jumper, is one such example.

Praveen Chithravel (men’s triple jump final)  

India missed out on the podium in the triple jump finals by just a few centimetres. While gold-medallist Eldhose Paul and silver-medallist Abdulla Aboobacker secured the country’s first 1-2 finish in athletics at the Commonwealth Games (CWG), Praveen Chithravel was just three centimetres shy of bronze medallist Jah Nhai Perinchief’s 16.92m. Chithravel registered his best of 16.89m in his third attempt and followed it up with 16.68m, 16.85m and 16.28m as Perinchief’s mark continued to elude the Tamil Nadu triple jumper.  

Ajay Singh (men’s 81kg weightlifting final)  

Gold medal prospect Ajay Singh lost out on a bronze by a whisker in the men’s 81kg weightlifting event and finished fourth with a combined lift of 319kg, just one short of bronze-medallist Nicholas Vachon (320kg) of Canada. Ajay finished joint second in the snatch-round with a best of 143.5kg. That’s five less than his National Record (148kg), which he had set after clearing 137kg & 140kg in his previous attempts. The 25-year-old started the clean and jerk on a strong footing with successful lifts of 172kg and 176kg but failed to clear 180kg – falling well short of his National Record of 190kg – in his final attempt.  

Ashish Kumar (men’s boxing light heavyweight quarterfinal) 

Ashish Kumar was denied a medal after losing a controversial men’s light heavyweight boxing quarterfinal 1-4 via split decision against home favourite Aaron Bowen. Much to Ashish’s disbelief, the Englishman was unanimously awarded the final round after both pugilists had bagged one round each by a 3-2 margin. After a close-fought third round, the 2019 Asian Championships silver medallist smashed his head against the floor of the boxing arena in frustration. The 28-year old Ashish was coming off a crushing 5-0 victory in his Round 16 bout. A win in the quarterfinal would have guaranteed him a bronze.  

Sreeja Akula (women’s table tennis singles bronze medal match)  

In a thrilling and pulsating contest for the women’s singles table tennis bronze medal, Sreeja Akula lost to Australia’s Yangzi Liu 3-4 (11-3, 6-11, 2-11, 11-7, 13-15, 11-9, 7-11) after staging a series of comebacks. The Indian took the first game with ease, winning 11-3. Liu won the second with a score of 11-6. After three games, the Australian took a 2-1 lead. However, Liu came back to win the fourth game 11-7. This drew the scores to 2-2. Sreeja won the sixth game 11-9, after having lost 1-7 to Liu. However, Sreeja couldn’t recover from a large deficit of 1-6 in the decider as Liu clinched the final game 11-7 and with it the bronze.  

Manpreet Kaur (women’s para powerlifting lightweight final) 

Manpreet Kaur finished fourth in the women’s lightweight para powerlifting event with a best lift of 88kg and a total of 89.6 points. After lifting 87kg and then 88kg, the 35-year old failed to lift 90kg. She was defeated by Hellen Wawira Kariuki from Kenya who won bronze with 98.5 points and a best of 95kg. Manpreet’s compatriot Sakina Khatun finished fifth with 87.5 points and a best of 90kg as Sudhir’s gold in the men’s heavyweight category was the only para powerlifting medal India won at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.  

Gold is just outside reach for many of the medals

M. Sreeshankar (men’s long jump final) 

Silver-medallist M. Sreeshankar missed a historic gold in the men’s long jump final by the barest of margins and left a host of questions in his wake. The 23-year-old missed out winning India’s first-ever long jump gold medal at the Commonwealth Games after registering a jump of 8.08m in his fifth attempt, which left him level with eventual winner Laquan Nairn. Nairn won the gold because he had a better second-best leap than Laquan Nairn, who tied them for best jump. According to rules adopted in November 2021, the Indian appeared to have jumped at 8.20m in his fourth attempt. While to the naked eye it appeared that Sreeshankar’s foot was behind the take-off line while, according to the new rules, his boot had breached the ‘verticle plane’ of the line by a centimetre. “It was a millimetre,” Sreeshankar screamed to his coach in disbelief. 

Avinash Sable (men’s 3000m steeplechase final) 

Avinash Sable bettered his National Record for the ninth time, shocked two-time World champion and 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist Conseslus Kipruto and ended Kenya’s 24-year-long podium sweep in the event en route to his silver medal but fell five microseconds short of the gold in the 3000m steeplechase final. Sable was fourth, just behind three Kenyans in the race’s opening lap. He pulled away, but Abraham Kibiwot, eventual gold medallist, had a short scare in the final lap. Sable won in 8:11.20s. Despite having India’s, arguably, most hard-fought and precious medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Sable wasn’t too satisfied. “I have won the silver medal, but I regret that it was a matter of a few centimetres. I didn’t do that well while getting over the last two hurdles. If that had worked, it would have been the best thing ever,” he said. 

India women’s hockey team (semifinal) 

In its bid to assure itself of a Commonwealth Games silver medal after 16 years, the Indian women’s hockey team held pre-tournament favourite Australia to a 1-1 draw in regulation time. Captain Savita denied Australia a goal in the first penalty shootout attempt. The hit was only restored after a miscommunication occurred between the match officials and the referee regarding the clock. The Indian team’s coach Janneke Schopman and players expressed their dismay but the attempt was retaken and converted by Australia on this occasion. India lost the shootout 0-3. “Tough to take, especially (after what happened) in the first stroke of the shootout.” an emotional Savita said after the match. “I don’t think even the officials understood what happened… it’s not an excuse but that didn’t help the team,” Schopman added.  

India women’s cricket team (final) 

With 50 runs to win, six overs left, eight wickets remaining, captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues in the middle of a 90-run partnership, the Indian women’s cricket team would have believed it had at last exorcised the ghosts of a defeat in the final of a multi-team tournament. It was a long procession to the dugout that saw India lose eight wickets in 40 runs, before finally falling to Australia by nine runs. The Australians bowled India out in three deliveries. This was India’s third loss in a major tournament since 2017. India came off a thrilling, four-run victory over host England in semifinal. But it faltered again at the last hurdle in its quest to redemption and settled for silver.  

Sanket Sargar (men’s 55kg weightlifting final)  

While Sanket Sargar’s silver in the men’s 55kg weightlifting event was India’s first medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the 21-year-old fell agonisingly short of clinching a gold to open his country’s account. Sargar, who lifted a combined 248kg, was separated by gold-medallist Malaysia’s Mohamad Aniq Bin Kasdan by just one kilogram. After the snatch, Sargar was in first place with a 113kg lift that was equal to his National Record and 6kg more than Aniq. He cleared 135kg in the first clean and jerk attempt, but fell to 139kg in the subsequent two. Aniq had injured his elbow on the second. Aniq overcame the deficit in the snatch and lifted 142kg in his last attempt to win the gold medal.